The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1887-06-17
EPlToME OF THE REIGN.
Growth Of the Empire and Improvement
of the People.


Growth Of the Empire and Improvement
of the People.
Her majesty's accession was cotemporary
with rebellion in Canada. In the eastern
province, now Quebec, IL began with the COM
plants Of the French that they did not enjoy
equal rights with the English; there was
much trouble, two or three sharp fights and
some bloodshed In the western province,
now Ontario, there was demand for popular
election Of n parliament, with full control Of
tho finances, and equality among churches in
receipt OF government. funds; but there
large majority was loyal, and the rebellion
was treated with contempt by the governor,
Sir Francis Head Nevertheless there were
dangerous complications with the United
States, owing TO the acts Of American SYM
pathizers with the insurgents and the de-
ytruction Of the American steamer Caroline,
which the loyal Canadians set loose in the
Niagara and let her run over the Falls. But
all these matters were amicably adjusted,
the Canadians obtained very liberal
system Of government and in 1919 the last
difficulty was removed by the Webster Ash
burton treaty defining the exact boundary.
Canada has since made such rapid progress
that all tho colonies, from Prince Edward
Island to British Columbia, are now united in
q confederation, and new nation of 5,OOO,OOO
people and nearly 100000 square miles bor-
ders the United States on the north. The
government is a happy combination of the
British and American systems, each prov
ince self governing in local affairs and tho
Ottawa parliament over all. The Marquis OF
Lansdowne is now governor general and Sir
John Macdonald is head of the government rs
premier and leader of the Tory majority in
the house of commons The Chartists next
began an agitation for universal manhood
suffrage, parliaments elected yearly, vote by
ballot no property qualification for the rights
and duties of citizenship, payment of salary
to members Of parliament and the division OF
the United Kingdom into parliamentary dis
tricts according to population
Fanatics and impostors multiplied. One
Thorn proclaimed himself the new Messiah
and had thousands Of followers, chiefly In
Kent. Thorn shot dead policeman who
sought to arrest him. Soldiers came and the
mob attacked them; they fired one volley
and stretched Thorn and many Of his adhe-
rents dead. A wild orator named Feargus
OConner infamed the people to madness.
Formidable riots occurred at several places.
Very many Chartists were prosecuted and inn
prsoned by the government. The European
ment to fever heat; and monster mass
meeting was called for April 10, 1S4S, on
Kensington common. A hundred thousand
laborers were to assemble and march with a
petition to the house of commons. The gov
ernment forbade the meeting; but all London
was in panic. The Duke of Wellington
posted soldiers to protect the public buildings,
and many thousand special constabes and
policemen were sworn in. Among those
who volunteered as policemen was Prince
Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, then an exile in
England and soon after to be emperor of the
French. AT the last minute the Chartists
yielded and thereafter their power seemed
to vanish all at once. The best Of the meas
ures they asked for have since become laws in
England.
The Chartist riots, the agitation for the re-
peal Of the corn laws and the general move
ment to improve the condition of laborers
appear to have unsettled many minds; and,
as generally happens in such cases, a spirit Of
assassination was excited. June 10, 1910,
Edward Oxford, boy of II, fired twice at
the queen as she was out driving with her
husband; the jury pronounced him insane
and he ended his life in an asylum. Another
attempt on the queens life was made May
80, 1912. This was by John Francis, young
machinest, and on the very spot where Ok
ford's attempt was made. He fired two shots.
at but few feet Distant but it was set up
on his trial that the pistol was loaded only
with wads. He was found guilty of high
treason and sentenced to death, but the queen
commuted 1t to Imprisonment for life; and on
the very day after the Communication was pub
lished hunchback named Bean aimed a
pistol at her majesty, but was seized and dis
Iy-. l,,, ,t,, Il. =,
was loaded only with paper and fragments Of
clay pipe; so Bean escaped with the very
triang penalty Of eighteen months imprison-
ment On May 49, lS49, an Irish bricklayer
discharged pistol loaded only with powder,
at the queen, for which he was transported
for seven years. On May 81, 1850, Robert
Pate, who had been discharged from the po-
sition of lieutenant in the Hussars, struck the
queen across the face with cane us she was
entering her carriage; he also received
sentence to seven years transportation And
finally, on Feb. 20, lS59, a l7-year-oid boy,
Arthur OConnor, aimed a pistol at the
queen; but it proved to be unloaded and to
have defective lock. He received twelve
months imprisonment and a public whip
ping; and there were no more attempts at as
sassination or intimidation.
By the factories act of 1914 children of ten
der years were excluded from the mills, and
the hours of such as were admitted limited TO
seven or ten per day, according to age. By
another act it was absolutely forbidden to
employ women or girls in the mines and col
lieries. Following this came the long and
heated agitation for free importation of food.
By the corn laws of 1915 all foreign grain was
tariffed at a rate which practically forbade
its importation, except when scarcity raised
the home price almost TO the famine line.
The Irish famine compelled parliament to
take action, and though Sir Robert Peel had
taken the post of prime minister as a Con-
servative, he went over to the Radicals on
this point, and in June, 1915, the corn laws
were absolutely repealed. This was followed
rapidly by removal Of taxes from other arti-
cles of food, and consequently by vast in
crease in import and consumption, and since
1850 Great Britain has been pointed at as the
one great free trade nation in the world
The Irish famine which forced the action
Of Peel and his colleagues began in the
autumn OF 1915 with a peculiar blight upon
the potato-the standard food OF the poor.
In 1916 not only did the plant wither under
the blight, but the potatoes rotted even in the
cellars and pits after being dug, when ap-
parently sound. and the long raipn NJ nisarv